Once Zinedine Zidane was reappointed as Real Madrid manager and the excitement of seeing the Frenchman back at the Bernabeu calmed down, questions started being asked about the future of a few players.
One of those players is Gareth Bale. The Welshman was visibly unhappy with his situation in Spain during Zizou's first spell and was thus tipped with an exit. The World Cup winner ended up packing his things while the former Tottenham ace remained, but things did not change under two different managers.
And now that the Frenchman is back, many wonder whether this will be the final nail to the coffin that is his Los Blancos career. Speaking about this issue, the player's agent looked to douse those claims.
Jonathan Barnet stressed that the 29-year-old has no desire to leave Spain. His representative even flirted with the idea of Bale retiring in Madrid.
"Yes, why not? He wants to play all his career for Real Madrid and if it does not work out, we will talk again," Barnett told BBC Five Live (as per Marca).
"He will talk with Mr. Zidane, take it from there and then see at the end of the season.
"We [Barnett and Bale] speak a lot. The closest person to him is my son Joshua who is really his agent and he looks after him, he has done a good job."
One the issue of the alleged rift between the player and agent, Barnet stated that their only difference was over playing time. Bale understandably wanted to play week in week out but Zidane opted to leave him on the bench on occasions. This inhibited Real Madrid's record signing from reaching Cristiano's level, his agent argued.
"Gareth wanted to play one way and Zidane wanted to play another," he added. "That was the cause of it and over a period of time it got worse.
"If you let Gareth play the way he wants to play, having a run of games in a row not in and out, he can be right up there with Cristiano Ronaldo. He still has a great talent."
